By Bill Pumford, Image from Bancroft Library Collection

TITLE: THE JOHN BROWN TOLL ROAD IN THE CAJON PASS – PART II: The original tolls approved by the county supervisors seemed to the users to be a bit harsh and included such charges as $.25 for man & horse, $1.00 for wagon and one span of horses, and $.05 for every loose cow or horse. As the toll road continued to be used minor problems would arise. In the early 1870s Captain Aaron Lane issued a warning in the San Bernardino Weekly Argus that unless the condition of the toll road was improved through repairs and continued maintenance, he and his vast herd of cattle would bypass the toll gate. Sure enough, the road was not repaired, and Captain Lane went around the toll gate which prompted a lawsuit from John Driggers, who had leased the toll road from John Brown. This week’s image shows the station at the upper toll house in 1863 which would experience random gun shots at the buildings and thefts of horses and cattle. The first upper toll gate operator was David Noble Smith who later built the first sanitorium near present-day Arrowhead Springs. The next upper toll gate operator was James Fears who was there for more than a decade. The area continued to retain the name of Fear’s Station long after the road went out of existence as a toll road. In 1885 C.F. Loomis, at the end of a more than 3,000 mile walk across the country, stayed at the abandoned Fear’s Ranch on that last leg of the journey. In 1881, at the end of the 20-year contract, the road was now free for everyone to use. The county continued to maintain and use the road. In 1915 the National Old Trails Road incorporated the old toll road into its national program as one of the last links to Los Angeles. Now the old toll road provides a service as a piece of the Pacific Crest Trail.